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LOL @ HPL! (isnt it funny how easily we learn a new language when we have too) Where the heck were you last Thursday? I pulled up all the dictionaries I could get on my IPhone at the time, and could not prove my contention that stob was a real word! Honestly, I was struck dumb to find out not one person in the group had ever heard the word. These are folks with more letters after their names than in mine.

Here is the original sentence, "As she raced through the bramble, thorns and stobs tore at Becky's ankles and ripped her jeans". The suggestion, "thorns and stobs, small sharp stumps of harvested pines, tore at Becky's, etc., etc. I didn't like that much so just added a sentence to the original, ala: "Racing through the bramble, thorns and stobs tore at Becky's ankles and ripped her jeans. The field was covered in these short sharp stumps of harvested pines."

I will see how that flies in class next week. But now I am tempted to go back to the original and tell 'em to look it up in Merriam Webster! But the idea is the same. Learn to convey meaning through use. Now I am going to have to write a sentence using sequacious without being overly servile. Not my style.

Hey Ken!
Subscribed to M-W's "word of the day" the day you mentioned it and have already found three new words that could be used here daily: "ratiocination" (thought) the first word on the day I signed up, "sequacious" (intellectually servile) from the archives, and today's "pertinacious" (resolutely holding on to an opinion, purpose, or design). Unfortunately, the last two are somewhat pejorative (which is what would make them useful here) .

This IS a fun thread, and even though I suspect that it may have been started with at least a little malicious intent it has turned out to be convivial and pretty informative.

Sequacious is just a mean word, but pertinacious can swing either way. I would not expect anyone using either one to be particularly servile (another somewhat mean word).

If you find it amusing to rankle the obtuse among us, HPL, you may want to invest in a couple books by Eugene Ehrlich. Another quick source of 'interesting' words can be found in Bill O'Reilly's tome of "Factor Words"...designed to increase your 'ascerbity'.

UB

Last edited by Uncle Bill; 11-18-2012 at 01:31 PM.

When the one you love becomes a memory, that memory becomes a treasure.

If you find it amusing to rankle the obtuse among us, HPL, you may want to invest in a couple books by Eugene Ehrlich. Another quick source of 'interesting' words can be found in Bill O'Reilly's tome of "Factor Words".

UB

That first sentence is great. Obtuse is a wonderful word. I use it relatively often. I think growing up with a teacher and librarian for a mother, an english teacher (and head of the english dept) for an aunt, and a grandmother that was also a teacher had a lot to do with the development of my vocabulary. Everybody in the family, including my brother and cousins talk this way. In my "formative" years two of our favorite games were Scrabble, and Password. Just couldn't escape it.

Any doctrine that weakens personal responsibility for judgment and for action helps create the attitudes that welcome and support the totalitarian state.
(John Dewey)

Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company.
(George Washington)

what a bunch of piffle
My favorite word is defenestration, although I don't get much chance to use it.

I like that one too, although I prefer the verb forms as in "Did he jump, or was he defenestrated?" or "You better smile when you say that or I may be forced to defenestrate you!" or even, "Here comes the constabulary, mayhaps it would be advisable to defenestrate the contraband!" . "Piffle"'s pretty good too.

Last edited by HPL; 11-18-2012 at 02:39 PM.

Any doctrine that weakens personal responsibility for judgment and for action helps create the attitudes that welcome and support the totalitarian state.
(John Dewey)

Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company.
(George Washington)

what a bunch of piffle
My favorite word is defenestration, although I don't get much chance to use it.

Thanks for that, Barb. Since the advent of adulthood, I don't have much use for defenestration anymore. As a beer drinking rowdy teen, however, we thought it was kool to litter the ditches in that manner.

One of my favorite stories attributed to the Navy, was during orientation, the Captain stated to the new troops, "Men, from now on you will refer to the left side of this ship as port, and the right side as starboard. If I hear you screw up, I'll throw you out of one of those little round windows."

UB

When the one you love becomes a memory, that memory becomes a treasure.

Hey Ken!
Subscribed to M-W's "word of the day" the day you mentioned it and have already found three new words that could be used here daily: "ratiocination" (thought) the first word on the day I signed up, "sequacious" (intellectually servile) from the archives, and today's "pertinacious" (resolutely holding on to an opinion, purpose, or design). Unfortunately, the last two are somewhat pejorative (which is what would make them useful here) .

todays word "pertinacious" is a good un!
I enjoy the word of the day email.
Murral, sign up for it and you'll be talkin with so many $5 words your work force will be needing a debit card to know what you are telling them to do!!!!! click http://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/ scroll to bottom and add email address

"So what is big is not always the Trout nor the Deer but the chance, the being there. And what is full is not necessarily the creel nor the freezer, but the memory." ~ Aldo Leopold

"The Greatest Obstacle to Discovery is not Ignorance -- It is the Illusion of Knowledge" ~ Daniel Boorstin